Anne Hathaway has secrets, Stanley Tucci wants the Mona Lisa, and Adam Brody is still making the case for dating a rabbi. October’s watchlist is giving us plenty to work with. There’s Austen for the romantics, Stephen King for anyone who prefers their evenings slightly unsettling, and enough complicated relationships to make staying home feel like a sensible decision.
VERITY
A writing job, a remote estate and an unpublished manuscript you probably wish you hadn’t opened. Dakota Johnson plays Lowen, hired to finish the books of Anne Hathaway’s Verity Crawford, only to discover something considerably more disturbing than a missed deadline. Josh Hartnett completes the trio in this adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s thriller. We would be reading every page.
CARRIE
High school was already a horror story. Give its most isolated student telekinetic powers and put the bullying online, and you have Mike Flanagan’s new take on Stephen King’s Carrie. Summer H. Howell leads the eight-part series, with Samantha Sloyan as her fiercely protective mother. All episodes arrive together, so “just one more” is entirely your problem.
BIG GIRLS DON’T CRY
Remember wanting to hang out with the older girls, then realizing you had no idea how to act around them? Paloma Schneideman’s debut follows 14-year-old Sid through a summer in rural New Zealand in 2006, as belonging, sexuality and class become awkwardly intertwined. Growing up rarely has the good manners to happen one crisis at a time.
FALLING
KJ Apa falls for Isabel May. His best friend, played by Archie Renaux, has feelings for her too. A tidy setup for a very untidy situation. This romantic comedy puts friendship and commitment in the same room and leaves them to work things out. Someone is going to need a difficult conversation.
ANIMALS
Ben Affleck and Kerry Washington play a political couple whose son is kidnapped, forcing them to find ransom money and confront secrets that could undo their lives. Affleck also directs. A mayoral campaign is stressful enough before the family crisis; this is one for an evening when you want your phone firmly out of reach.
THE SOCIAL RECKONING
Facebook’s origin story has had its moment. Aaron Sorkin now turns to what happened after the platform became powerful enough to shape everyone else’s. Mikey Madison plays whistleblower Frances Haugen, with Jeremy Allen White as reporter Jeff Horwitz. The film follows their effort to expose the company’s guarded secrets. Your screen-time report can wait.
LOVE OF YOUR LIFE
Margaret Qualley, Gabriel Basso and a chance encounter that changes the future. Rachel Morrison directs this romance about Maya and Charlie, for anyone currently in the mood to invest in someone else’s love life. Keep this one for the evening when the group chat has exhausted its own romantic developments.
VISIONQUEST
Even an android can have an identity crisis. Paul Bettany’s Vision is hiding from people who want to weaponize him, consulting the artificial intelligence personalities in his programming and trying to find some meaning in it all. Then a bounty and a mysterious boy complicate matters.
SENSE AND SENSIBILITY
Daisy Edgar-Jones and Esmé Creed-Miles take on Elinor and Marianne Dashwood in Georgia Oakley’s new Austen adaptation. Expect courtship with financial consequences, family obligations and two sisters with different approaches to feeling things. Austen understood that being in love and making a sensible decision are occasionally separate activities.
SACRIFICE
A charity gala on a Greek island sounds like a perfectly good evening. The doomsday cult taking everyone hostage is where the itinerary loses us. Chris Evans and Anya Taylor-Joy star in a thriller that gives its glamorous guests considerably more to worry about than who they’re seated next to.
MASTERPLAN
Stanley Tucci assembles a team to steal the Mona Lisa, then announces that his two recruits are his long-lost children. An ambitious way to introduce yourself as their father. The cybercrime expert and explosives specialist now have a robbery to plan and a family situation to process. We’re here for Tucci and the questionable parenting.
THE TERMINAL LIST: SEASON 2
Chris Pratt is back as James Reece, and a quiet fresh start appears to be off the table. Based on Jack Carr’s True Believer, the second season sends him into an international conspiracy with ties to his family history. Save this for when your idea of switching off involves espionage and very little downtime.
NOBODY WANTS THIS: SEASON 3
Kristen Bell and Adam Brody return as Joanne and Noah, still dealing with the practical complications of falling for someone whose life looks nothing like yours. Their families remain involved, naturally. Some couples get privacy; these two get a supporting cast with opinions. We’ll be checking in.
KLARA AND THE SUN
Jenna Ortega plays an artificial companion in Taika Waititi’s adaptation of Kazuo Ishiguro’s novel, with Mia Tharia as the girl she befriends and Amy Adams as her mother. Klara wants a home and someone to care for. The people around her make that simple wish rather complicated. A change of pace for anyone who knows Ortega primarily from Wednesday.
DRIVE – THE PRETENDERS
A racing mechanic agrees to a fake engagement with a scandal-prone driver. He gets a cleaner reputation; she hopes to get behind the wheel. Lisa-Marie Koroll and Amin Baahmed star in this adaptation of Tamara Lush’s Drive, where an arrangement designed to solve two problems threatens to create several more. Fake dating has never been known for its administrative efficiency.
Daniel Roseberry presented Schiaparelli’s Spring/Summer 2027 collection, Going Clear, beneath the Louvre, translating the house’s surrealist codes into more wearable ready-to-wear.
Demna presents Gucci Spring/Summer 2027 at Milan Fashion Week, transforming the runway into a luxury boutique filled with sharp tailoring, Italian glamour and statement eveningwear.
Law Roach has confirmed Kim Kardashian as a new client after styling her in an archival Tom Ford-era Saint Laurent gown for the Lucas Museum opening in Los Angeles.
